Pennsylvania touts stronger fiscal health, but clouds loom

Gov. Tom Wolf says Pennsylvania is making its largest deposit into its budgetary reserve account in nearly two decades.

Tuesday, July 9th 2019, 1:15 PM EDT

By MARC LEVYAssociated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Tom Wolf says Pennsylvania is making its largest deposit into its budgetary reserve account in nearly two decades.

Wolf's office said Tuesday's deposit is $317 million, after strong corporate and sales tax collections drove the state past its revenue expectations by almost 3%.

The state collected a total of $34.9 billion for its main operating account in the just-ended fiscal year. That exceeded projections by $883 million, although most of that extra cash was needed to cover cost overruns.

The 2019-20 fiscal year that began July 1 is projected to be another relatively strong year for tax collections.

However, not everything's rosy. Pennsylvania still had $67 billion in state pension debt, as of the last valuation, and demographic projections show its working-age population is shrinking.

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